FRENCH PRESIDENT Nicolas Sarkozy will appear on national television tonight to set out plans for the rest of his term after a long-awaited cabinet reshuffle that marked a consolidation of power by the right.
Despite being more limited than many expected, the reshuffle changes the government’s dynamic and puts some of Mr Sarkozy’s allies in pivotal positions with just 18 months to go before he faces re-election.
Prime minister François Fillon, widely believed – even by himself – to have been on the way out until the political winds turned in his favour last week, emerged strengthened and exuding renewed authority. “Fillon keeps Sarkozy,” declared Libération’s front page yesterday, alluding to a shift in the balance of power towards the popular head of government.
After regional elections last March, when the ruling UMP suffered a heavy defeat, it was widely believed Mr Sarkozy would reorient his cabinet towards the centre, with Mr Fillon making way for a figure such as Jean-Louis Borloo, the centrist energy minister. Interviewed by Le Monde yesterday, Mr Borloo said he had been told by Mr Sarkozy before the summer to “prepare” for the job of prime minister. But two forces conspired to keep Mr Fillon in Hôtel Matignon, the prime minister’s official residence.
First, opposition to Mr Borloo and the change in direction his elevation would signal grew intense within the UMP, recently buoyed by the enacting of its controversial pension reform.
Second, Mr Fillon himself fought a late battle to stave off the challenge, making speeches in which he called for “continuity” and warning of the danger of easing off the economic reform agenda. In the end, with his public popularity ratings exceeding the president’s, Mr Fillon had made himself indispensable.
Attention yesterday focused on Mr Borloo, whose decision to decline Mr Sarkozy’s offer of the foreign ministry in order to retrieve his “freedom of expression” outside government could cause problems for the president in 2012. Mr Borloo’s humiliation – along with the departure of another centrist, Hervé Morin – raises the likelihood he will stand for the Élysée in 18 months’ time.
With his reshuffle, Mr Sarkozy has rewarded his loyalists on the right and punished awkward dissenters. Alain Juppé, the heavyweight former prime minister, returns to cabinet, while allies such as Brice Hortefeux (interior), Xavier Bertrand (employment and health) and Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet (environment) have also seen their roles strengthened.
As he entered the defence ministry yesterday, Mr Juppé said his return to government was due to the fact that he had “no desire at all to see the left come to power in 2012”. Two left-wing figures who were co-opted by Mr Sarkozy in 2007 – Bernard Kouchner (foreign affairs) and Jean-Marie Bockel (a junior justice minister) – were removed, as were two of the most outspoken and independent-minded ministers – Rama Yade and Fadela Amara.
That means the three ministers from minority backgrounds brought into cabinet with great fanfare in 2007 – Ms Yade, Ms Amara and former justice minister Rachida Dati – have all left.
Nonetheless, Mr Sarkozy’s appointment to cabinet of Jeannette Bougrab, until now the head of the state’s anti-discrimination watchdog, sends a message to the political centre.
So does the decision to quietly abolish the controversial Department of Immigration and National Identity, the creation of which was one of Mr Sarkozy’s electoral promises in 2007.